China Bans 3 Runners For Life After Cheating at 2019 Boston Marathon

Three marathon runners found guilty of cheating at the 2019 Boston Marathon on Monday have been banned for life by the Chinese Athletic Association.

The CAA levied the punishments on Friday, per BBC News. A trio of runners were found to have committed the following infractions: "One participant gave his bib to someone else while the other two used forged certificates to gain entry."

Per BBC, China's Xinhua news agency relayed a statement from the CAA promising to do all it can "in order to build a healthy and clean environment of road running in China."

As the BBC News report noted, marathon running has been becoming more and more popular in China: "with 1,500 running events last year compared to just 22 in 2011." The surge in appreciation for the sport was underlined by the participation of "more than 550 Chinese runners" in Boston.

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Unfortunately, a byproduct of said popularity has been a rise in incidents of cheating to both make and complete races. Faced with the problem, the CAA is anxious to mete out appropriate punishments for those whose actions had a "negative impact" on the country and its international standing.

To help deter future incidents, China is said to be planning the use of "facial-recognition technology," per Agence France-Presse (h/t Inquirer.net).

While authorities in China have taken swift action, cheating remains a sport-wide problem for marathon events. Earlier in April, Jen A. Miller of the New York Times published an article detailing the work of Derek Murphy, a financial analyst who started the website Marathon Investigation.

Since 2015, Murphy has been investigating potential cheaters. His findings have led to post-race disqualifications for several runners, further evidence of a growing problem.